A friend of mine, a very educated friend of mine said these statements to me "What is the Navy doing in the desert" or "Not a lot of need for the Navy in the desert." He was of course referring to Iraq and Afghanistan. This is probably how many Americans feel or think. This hit me in a strange place because that week I had watched a focus group respond to questions about their opinions of the Navy. When asked "what comes to mind when I say the word Navy?"Many of the people had responses like "Boots, running, submarines, blue" Yes, these are part of the Navy, but, hardly the whole story. Much of what the people were talking about was a blending of all the services. They had seen ads for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and blended them. I work as a public Affairs Officer for the Navy Reserves. Here are some things the Navy is doing in the desert and around the world.

The SEALS are part of SOCOM. If there is an in and out raid using helos instead of subs, then I am not the least bit surprised that SEALS are being used while a lot of Green Beanies are busy with training various new national forces...............

After Desert One in Iran (Remember the embassy hostages?) ther was a major effort focused on "Jointness" within the DOD, any officer who planned on getting more than 1 star has been required to have at least one "Purple"(other service) tour. Also with budget cuts alot of the services combined their schools, Marine MP's attend the Air Force School at Lackland, Tankers all got to the Army's armor school at Knox, and a lot of the various excersises at NTC, CAX, Red Flag, etc. include more than just one service as well. That is why we were able to pull off Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, the changes and updated equipment/ docterine/ training from the Reagan era refit. That included alot of Joint Training. (not the kind of joint that was popular in later and post Vietnam years either)

I have seen your dad's Seabee machete. Those areas are still just as important strategically as they were then. The men that fought there then may not have realized what good and far reaching work they were doing. The Navy returns every year to all the South Pacific locations to give medical aid with Pacific Partnership.